Padres Pull Off Heist: Rōki Sasaki Predicted to Bolt Dodgers for San Diego’s $6.3 Million Signing Bonus
The San Diego Padres will have a tough time adding superstars this winter, but there’s one massive glimmer of hope.
Entering the new season right up against the luxury tax threshold, it doesn’t appear the Padres have the bandwidth to make any expensive signings. That makes it difficult to keep up in the Major League Baseball arms race, but the Padres may have a secret weapon.
Roki Sasaki, the 23-year-old Japanese phenom who decided to come to MLB two years ahead of schedule, is the biggest possible prize for the Padres this winter. Because he’s under 25, he’s only eligible to sign a minor-league deal, which will put him at a league-minimum salary for the first three years of his career.
Signing Sasaki is a dream scenario for a fiscally-pressed team like the Padres, but that doesn’t mean he’ll land with them. San Diego’s top competition is the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have two Japanese superstars already in Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
However, the Padres won’t go down without a fight, as their own Japanese starting pitcher, Yu Darvish, was Sasaki’s idol growing up. Can San Diego’s desperation to land a cost-controlled superstar take them over the top?
Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report thinks so. He predicted Friday that the Padres would land Sasaki for a $6.3 million signing bonus, which is all of their projected bonus pool money for the upcoming season.
“Every team in MLB should make an attempt to sign Sasaki, but he figures to sign with one that can promise success and endorsement opportunities,” Rymer said. “As reported by Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, the expectation is that he’ll sign with either the Dodgers or Padres.”
“Prediction: Signs with Padres for $6.3 million signing bonus.”
Sasaki throws 102 miles per hour with a wipeout splitter. That’s something worth paying every possible dollar for, and $6.3 million is an insane bargain. The Padres just have to keep their fingers crossed he chooses them.
